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Friday, August 30, 2013

Who wants dessert?Who knows a child who would have fun making their own quick dessert or snack?Who knows a mom who would like that to be a mess-free and {reasonably} healthy endeavor?

Have I got a recipe for you!This is very easy and can be tailored to every taste. I got the recipe idea here. It's so simple, well, a child could make it.Mix completely together a dry angel food cake mix and the dry cake mix flavor of your choice. (I chose sugar free devil's food because I'm not supposed to have sugar, but I love angel food cake and couldn't find a sugar free mix for that. Oh well.)

Store the dry powdered mixture in an airtight container.When you want to make an individual cake all you have to do is stir together:3 Tbsp. cake mix2 Tbsp. waterin a microwave proof container.I used a mug.Microcook on high for one minute.

You can eat it out of the mug if you want, but part of my enjoyment of food is dressing it up a little.

If you want, add whipped cream,

or fruit.

Just be sure and sit down to enjoy it with someone and connect while cooking and eating.

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Would you like to attend an Around the Table Conference and hear me talk about Biblically based connecting with your family at mealtimes?

Do you know someone who would like some inspiration for family mealtimes? Please send them to this blog! Thank you.Get a Conversation Starter question each week night by *liking* the Around the Table Facebook page!

But when we came home there were other priorities, like getting my husband ready for his three week trip to Africa, a trip he's still on. I'm compiling his letters for the travel blog here. And getting my daughter home from her three month missions trip to Spain (here's her blog link) and now get ready for her sophomore year of college.

But now I'm back and I plan to write once a week for now as I feel that's the best use of my time at this point. (I don't understand how those women who write every day, or multiple times a day, do it!)I ran a seven part series this past spring called, "Making it Easy to Get to the Table". My goal was to help you actually get to the table with your family, and if you already do that, to make it easier to be a fun family time together.We started with The Well Stocked Kitchen because you can't get a meal together if you are always needing to run to the store for one more ingredient. And if it's hard to get the meal on, why bother trying to have a family meal? So this post has a printable basic list of what you need in your kitchen to make most recipes (other than the obvious main ingredients). Print it out and get started on your way to the table!

From there we went to Food for the Soul because without the right basis for your frame of mind, no one is going to want to be at the table with you.Part Three was Contrasts Make the Meal. This post gave ideas for coming up with a meal menu that is pleasing to all the senses because we like hot with cold, spicy with cool, chewy with melt-in-your-mouth, and sweet with salty. Not to mention red and green with white!Ease Through the Grocery Store has all kinds of unexpected hints for making that trip as quick and pleasant as possible.

The next post has photos of me doing my exercises. Yup, I humbled myself that much to show you that to get Energy to Get to the Table you might just need to do some exercising. (Not to mention the myriad of other benefits from exercising.)Part six is called There. Is. No. Need. To. Yell. and has eight ways to help make your family mealtime a pleasant time for everyone. It can really happen!And the last post in the series, Your Table: An Attractive Meal Zone has eight more ideas on how you can keep your table "meal ready" instead of being the catch-all of the house.

Friday, August 2, 2013

My friend, Laurie C., said, "I've been thinking a lot about this and I'm just wondering what other people would say to the question: Other than read the Bible and pray, what do you do to find comfort?""Eat chocolate!" I blurted out.Would you believe it? Laurie wrote it down, even as she laughed!

You should probably know that just before this, Joy had asked us all, "What's your favorite Bible verse?" As soon as the six of us started sharing, Laurie and several others asked for a piece of paper to be able to write down and remember these great Bible verses.Another question asked that night was, "If you could travel to anywhere, where would you go?"As we talked and laughed we got to know each other better because we had good questions to ask each other.

That evening we had each come prepared with a question to ask. But whether carefully thought through, or chosen out of a hat, I love conversation questions because they take conversation to the next level, past the weather and sports, away from gossip and complaints, to truly getting to know one another, whether you are friends or family. In order to help you, I've typed up some of my conversation starting questions and turned them into printables for you. Click the links below to get printable versions of the conversation starting question cards. They are formatted to print directly on Avery® Business Cards 28878™ (Avery® Template 8371™) or print them onto cardstock and the guidelines will show where to cut to get cards of uniform size. There are 50 questions in this set! Let me know if you like these and I'll put together more questions in a few months. Now print out the cards, punch or cut them apart and take turns choosing the card and reading the questions. Don't rush to the next question before others get to chime in with their answers or ask follow-up questions. You'll love how these questions add spice to your family dinners or friendly gatherings.